TDRECORD(1)

📦 version 2.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 TDRECORD(1) — the termdebug era, bestie 💖

okay so this is tdrecord, from the termdebug fam. like, the whole manual is TDRECORD(1) and it lives in section 1 (that's commands, iykyk). pull up a chair, we're recording a whole terminal session and it's gonna be iconic.

✨ NAME ✨

tdrecord — record input and output of a terminal program. yes literally, it's a lil tape recorder but for your terminal. 📼

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

tdrecord [OPTIONS]... CLIENT [CLIENT OPTIONS]...

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so basically tdrecord records the input and output of client. like, every keystroke, every sparkly bit of output, all of it. 💅

and then?? the recording can later be replayed using tdreplay(1) so you can compare behaviour of different versions of client. that's the whole point, bestie — catching when a new version starts acting different. 👑

and if you don't pass any options at all, no cap, tdrecord will create the recording in the file tdrecord-year-month-day@hour:minute:second. cute, timestamped, self-naming. slay. 🕐

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

tdrecord accepts the following options, and there are exactly six, we're not skipping a single one:

  • -h, --help — Display a short help message. lil baby manual moment 🍼
  • -V, --version — Print version and copyright information. the receipts, fr fr 🧾
  • -d dir, --directory=dir — Create the recording in directory dir. ⚠️ this option can not** be used together with the -o/--output option. pick a lane, bestie.
  • *-e *vars, --environment=vars — Save the environment variables indicated by the comma-separated list vars to the recording. these will be set on replay. so like, remember the vibes of your env and bring them back later 🌈
  • -o file, --output=file — Save the output in file. ⚠️ this option can not** be used together with the -d/--directory option. again: one or the other, not both 🙅
  • -X, --allow-x11 — Don't clear the DISPLAY environment variable, to allow communication with X11. by default it gets yeeted, this keeps it alive for X11 hangs 💻✨

okay and here's a lil pro-tip about dashes, because filenames starting with a dash are little gremlins 🙈:

To stop tdrecord from interpreting file names that start with a dash as options, one can specify a double dash (--) after which tdrecord will interpret any following arguments as the client and its options.

so like, -- is the "okay we're DONE with options now" line. everything after it belongs to the client. periodt. 💅

💀 BUGS 💀

If you think you have found a bug, please check that you are using the latest version of termdebug <http://os.ghalkes.nl/termdebug>. like, pls check you're not on some ancient build first bestie 😭

When reporting bugs, please include a minimal example that demonstrates the problem. minimal. tiny. a lil snack-sized repro. not your whole 400-line script. 🍓

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

G.P. Halkes <termdebug@ghalkes.nl> — the main character who built all this 👑

Copyright © 2010,2012-2013 G.P. Halkes

termdebug is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.

For more details on the license, see the file COPYING in the documentation directory. On Un*x systems this is usually /usr/share/doc/termdebug.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

the whole squad, go read these too:

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶 this was termdebug version 2.2, dated 2013/03/03 — yeah it's vintage, but it ATE and it's still serving. go record something iconic. bye!! 👋😭🔥

📦 where this page comes from